Op-Ed: Awakening – Part 2

By James Wilson • June 16, 2025

The following Op-Ed was submitted by James Wilson. Op-Eds do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of those at the Idaho Dispatch.

Donald Trump manifests a thoroughgoing commitment to worldwide peace – grounded in strength and a healthy skepticism about the intentions of hostile actors on the world stage – not seen since the days of Ronald Reagan. Both men were tarred by their political enemies as war mongers and gun-totin-cowboys, but Reagan presided over the peaceful dismantling of the Soviet Empire and Trump gave us the Abraham Accords in his first term and a great expansion of that compact in his first four months in office this time around. And again, Trump is no more a peddler of doctrines and Bible studies than was Reagan – nor are the men and women who serve under him – but rather represents something more profoundly of God. That “something” is a manifestation of repentance as a lifestyle. By repentance we should understand a man who witnessed a dramatic intervention by God with an assassin’s bullet; that encounter forever changed him.

President Trump is not alone as a leader radically impacted by God, albeit not all of them so dramatically. The leaders of both houses of Congress are vocal about their faith, as are many of their members. More and more state and local leaders have transcended the perfunctory – yet obligatory prayers – at prayer breakfasts and other public gatherings and are sharing their faith with obvious conviction. I have yet to encounter such a one – in this time – who imagines possessing a special anointing to lead as God ordains in the Bible; these leaders are rather committed to drawing close to God – as they understand Him – working out their salvation in fear and trembling per Philippians 2:12.

The fruit is good. In my own state of Idaho legislators this year launched a five-week celebration of traditional families as the backbone of our culture. More pragmatically, they adopted legislation to prevent public health officials from again forcing medical mandates on citizens, and more to the point, these initiatives were grounded in solid science, yet inspired by the personal faith of these leaders.

On national and international levels, the administration has overseen the reanimation of the Abraham Accords – and expanded their scope – as the best hope to prevent World War III breaking out in the Middle East. The president and his people are presiding over a rebirth of our national economy after many experts said it was too far down the path of socialism to be redeemed; they are working on a tax cut that dwarfs the Act of 2017, and recording record breaking levels of domestic and foreign investment in the American Dream. Some of the (recently) most woke corporations in America have drawn back from their ruinous (for all concerned) policies and begun to join the new migration back to prosperity, albeit for self-serving reasons, as tends to happen in Awakenings. (A God who accepts service from a Nebuchadnezzar can certainly show grace to Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos.) These administration leaders are doing these things through the expertise they have gained in their respective careers, but they are openly giving God the glory for their endowed giftings.

Although the pursuit of scientific truth has sunk into unprecedented corruption – from climate change inspired (falsification of data) scandals to co-opting organized medicine for profits and power – under the leadership of men like Robert Kennedy, to name just one, redemption may be on the horizon.

Though derided by the medical establishment – people who have amassed billions on sales of deadly vaccines for everything from COVID to reproductive viral infections, and others who have presided over astronomical increases in mental conditions like autism and ADHD so they can peddle marginally effective and provably dangerous drugs that control people instead of disease – Kennedy is committed to discovery of actual causes and cures. He believes science – authentic science – holds the key to eradicating chronic diseases as yellow fever, tuberculosis, and cholera were once eradicated without dependence on toxic chemicals. He places his faith in science because he understands that reality-based science is a gift from the God he worships and serves.

And of course an Awakening – or a Revival – would not be much if it did not feature outpourings of God’s Glory and abundant human responses. Sean Feucht’s ministry bloomed in 2020 – in the heart of the pandemic – but outbreaks on university campuses across the nation began in 2023 and have only grown since then. Auburn University – a Christian school – was the site of the first eruption, but nearly all of the others have been at secular universities. At Ohio State two thousand – of sixty-five hundred attendees – made decisions for Christ. A thousand came forward at Florida State, and similar stories have unfolded at the Universities of Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, both campuses of Texas A&M, and Indiana Wesleyan – to name a few. Fifty-five thousand young people – from sixteen hundred schools – showed up to the Passion 2024 event in Atlanta last year.

Almost as an addendum – albeit a crucial addendum – Awakenings are international in character. The present move of God is no exception. Outbreaks of Jesus fervor are appearing in the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, to name three. Asian and African nations are catching the flame.

Some will say – this writer is one of them – that we are in the EndTimes tribulation, or close to it. They will add that scripture will be fulfilled, and that we need not imagine this move will negate what God planned long ago. They are correct. But God also promised an EndTimes harvest. No one can predict the EndTimes schedule – for good or grief – but we can know our purpose is to draw ourselves and others closer to God, and so prepare for His coming in ultimate glory. Can anyone imagine a better way to prepare than to fully immerse ourselves in the glory He reveals today?

Let us praise Him!

James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships, The Holy Spirit and the End Times, Kingdom in Pursuit, and his first novel, Generation – available at Barnes and Nobles, Amazon, or at praynorthstate@gmail.com